Improved bed-bottom



met @film 'JACOB J. SMITH, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

Lena-s Patent-N0.' 83,001, dazed 00am 13, 1868; meedeed october-nicos.

nuPRovnn BED-Borrow;

The' Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same. v

Beit knownthat I, JACOB J. SMITH, of the city of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Bed-Bottoms;v and Ido hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and'exact description of the constructiony and operation of the same, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which-l Figure l isa plane view of the said improved bottom applied to a bedstead, and Figure 2. a vertical longitudinal section of g. 1. lLike, letters of reference indicate! the same parts when in both'iigures. My invention relates to thatl class of bed-bottoms having springy4 wooden slats for j supporting` the bed and consists in suspending the' slats from' tivo opposite rails of the bedstead by means of a cord applied near each end ofl the slats, so .as to connectthem to .their respective rails, by passing alternately from the rail to the several slats around knobs, or their' equi valents, fixed in the said rails and slats; and also inthe-eme ployment, in combination with one ofr'thefrails and` cords suspending the slats as stated, :L iuncling-cylin` der vprovided with aratchetl'wheel andpawl, and-perf manently attached soas to serve as a means oftightening or straining the cords between 'the rails and slats, substantially as hereinafter described and shown,

for the purpose of producing a more elastic, yinexpensive, and reliable slat bed-bottom. j-

Befern'ng to the drawings, A and-A are theA two end-rails fa bedstead; B B, the slats; Gand O','t' he two cords; a" a,'the rows of knobs inthe rails d c",-

vthe respective knobs in the twoV ends ofthe slats;

and D the tightening-cylinder, with ratchet-wheel and The knobs a and c" are rmade'oif hard wood, and glued fast in suitable holes made along inthe upper edges of the rails, and ineach end of the under sidesv of the 'slats respectively, the knobs a being arranged so as to be opposite to the spaces between the slats, when the latter are suspended in the bedstead.

The slats B are of the usual thickness and width, and about sixA or eight inches shorter than the distance which is between the tworails, A and A', from which they are suspended.

The cords C and C' are ofcommon bedcord,'or hemp rope. I

The winding-cylinder, D, is of cast-iron, and rotates upon its journals in ironarms, d d", which are fixed to one of the rails A, and has also 'a ratchet-whee1,d',

fixed on its lower end, which engages with a springpawl, not shown in the known manner..

The projecting lower end of the bottom Journal 1s cylinder in tightening the cords C and C.

` In applying this bed-bottom, one I end of each cord, C O', is looped fast to the first knob, a, in its respective rail, and the rst slat, B, then suspended between them by passing the cords around the .-respective knobs, c", of the said slat, thence around the second pended, when the free end of `one cord, C', is, looped fast to the last knob of its rail A', and the free end of the other cord, C, passed through a diametral hole in the cylinderD, and secured therein by a knot. The bottom can now be readily tightened in the bedstead by rotating the cylinder D, and thus winding the end of the cord C aroundit, vthe pawl and ratchetwheel d retaining the strain given'to the cords C and C', as represented in the drawings.

The slats being of a' somewhat elastic er springy nature, and being suspended horizontally by the zigzagged cords O and VCf, as describedand shown, it will y be seen that a very simple, inexpensive, reliable, and

easily-adjusted spring-bed bottom is aiiorded.

Having thus-fully described my improvement in bed-bottoms, y

desire to secure by Letters Patent, is conned to the following, viz: I

1. I claim an elastic bed-bottom, consisting of a series'of separate wooden slats, B B, arranged paral# lel with eachother and with theside-rails of the bedstead, and having a round knob, b', fixed near each end, in the middle of the width of the under side of each slat, B, and the said slats suspended by means of two single cords, C and C', which respectively pass in a strained or stretched manner from the knobs b of the slats to like knobs, a, ixed in the head and the foot-rails A A', in the zigzagged or laced manner shown and described, for the purpose specified.

2. I also claim, in combination with the mechanical devices claimed in the preceding clause, the winding-apparatus D, arranged to operate substantially as and for the purpose described.

JACOB J. SMITH.

Witnesses:

BEnJ.- MoRIsoN, GEO. SNYDER.

drawings, in the usual wellsquared toreceive a wrench or lever, for operating theknobs of the rails, and the knobs of the secondA slat, and so on until the whole ofthe slats, B, are thus susl What-1 claim as new therein of my invention, and 

